What are the highest-earning one-hit-wonders?
Many music fans have a thing about one-hit-wonders, artists who burn bright for exactly one song and then fall into obscurity. More often than not, they continue to release music, but no one cares. But if that one hit is big enough, that could sustain its author for the rest of their life.
Another survey (which is really an ad for a British site called Broadbandchoices.co.uk) dove into Spotify data to determine the highest-earning one-hit-wonders on the platform.
Biggest One-Hit Wonders by broadbandchoicesBut what about time before Spotify? They’ve calculated that, too. This is how much these artists could have earned each year since they had their big hit.
Here’s a playlist so they can earn a few more pennies.
Drives me mad that so many of these bands are considered one-hit wonders when really it’s just that the Americans didn’t get it. As an example, Soft Cell had 5 top 10 singles and 4 top 20 albums in the UK. Hardly a one-hit-wonder.
My neighbor John Ellison wrote She’s some kinda wonderful. Although it never reached number one it has been rerecorded by over 50 artists. It has indeed given him a comfortable income for over 50 years.